


this is me trying

by sadlybunny



Series: king of my heart, body and soul [2]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Christmas, Engaged Dan Howell/Phil Lester, Established Relationship, Family Drama, M/M, Modern Royalty, Prince Phil Lester, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:47:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27880090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadlybunny/pseuds/sadlybunny
Summary: There are a lot of eyes on them. Dan feels the pressure of what it means to be the prince’s fiancé when the holidays come around and he has to manage Christmas with Phil’s entire extended family.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Series: king of my heart, body and soul [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2032408
Comments: 7
Kudos: 26





	this is me trying

Since becoming the fiancé of a prince of a small country, Dan has learned some fairly important things. 

Firstly, royals have massive families. He learned this shortly after his engagement to Phil, when he started having random meetings scheduled all around the country when Phil left for Germany. One worried call to Phil’s assistant after checking his Google calendar later, and he was taught that “you can’t pass on family”. It was apparently an unspoken rule for the Lesters. 

Now that the holidays were arriving, Dan learned another fun thing about being a future royal. When Christmas comes, and the Marston Court Palace is filled with relatives of the royal family, it means that people from all over the globe are traveling to see them. And their small country is located directly between France and Italy, which means another thing Dan has to learn is French. And Italian. Thankfully, he had studied French in secondary school. He’s hardly fluent, but it’s a hell of a lot easier to get back into than Italian. He has lessons each day with a private tutor, learning polite conversation and how to comprehend fluent speech. 

Because that’s what it means to be engaged to the prince of Edania. “Everything you do is a reflection of him.” The queen’s secretary would say. He would already be judged for being born in Britain (and, of course, for the obvious reasons), he didn’t also need to be the only one being followed by a translator the whole night. 

“Daniel?” Phil’s assistant, Keira, pokes her head into his bedroom. “The tailors are here for your final fitting.” 

Dan nods for them to enter, a parade of people clambering into his bedroom. They set up a screen and a small podium for Dan to stand on in front of the mirror. A small woman, one of the tailors he recognizes from weeks before but is never told the name of, leads him behind the screen and begins to undress him. Another two come behind the screen, one carrying the outfit prepared for him and the other picking it up from her piece by piece to dress him again. The outfit is uncomfortably tight, but they tell him it's just “flattering”.

The door creaks again, and the room goes quiet. 

Once the final button is done up, the first woman grabs Dan’s hand and leads him to climb onto the podium. 

When he looks up, he’s greeted with the striking blue eyes of his fiancé only inches away from his. 

“Oh! Phil.” He smiles, remembering to do a small bow with his neck when Keira glances at him expectantly before greeting him with an embrace . Phil steps back before their lips can meet. That's the difference between the two of them, Phil never forgets himself.

“Hello, darling.” 

“Hello,” He shuffles through the list of acceptable pet names that he’s sure Keira had given him at one point. Someone overhears you calling your fiancé “Daddy” once _as a joke_ and suddenly your next meeting with the queen’s secretary is a lesson on “ _Relationship Etiquette and Acceptable Public Displays of Affection_ ”. Keira followed it up with a text message clarifying that lesson, containing a list of names that they had deemed acceptable for Dan to call Phil in public. “Dear.” He settles on. 

Phil winks at him, taking a seat in the chair directly in front of the podium Dan is standing on. 

“Will you be joining us for the fitting, then, Prince Philip?” Keira asks, pulling out her tablet to, no doubt, check the prince’s schedule today. 

“Yes. I’m just taking in the view for now,” Phil glances up at Daniel as a lady tugs on his coat to check the fit. “but, I figured we could do my final fitting in here as well. The tailors are already set up, after all.”

Keira presses her lips into a flat line, tapping on the screen of her tablet. She turns to the head tailor. 

“If it means we don’t have to move all this stuff over to the prince’s bedroom, then I’m fine with it.” She nods.

“Fine.” Keira sighs, and Dan hears her heels click over to the door. “I’m attending that meeting for you, sir.” 

He leans back to smile at her. “Thank you, Keira.”

She returns the smile tightly and shuts the bedroom door behind her.

Phil grins and stands. “Keep a secret, ladies?” The tailors exchange looks of excitement and giddiness as Phil stands on his tiptoes to kiss Dan. They go about their work, adjusting Dan’s clothes and holding up various accessories to match, as Phil holds Dan’s hands and kisses his knuckles occasionally. 

“Sit down now, your highness. We do actually need to dress him to decide on the final outfit.” 

Phil leans in for one final kiss, grasping Dan’s chin delicately before releasing it and taking a seat. 

“You two are quite adorable,” One woman pipes up. “I can hardly wait until the first fitting for the wedding suits.”

Phil gives her a charming smile. “Thank you, Cynthia.” _Of course he knows her name._ “You’ve all done a wonderful job with these outfits for Christmas. Dan and I are well excited to wear them for the party.” 

That’s another thing Dan has had to get used to. Phil speaking for him.

“Thank you, sir.” They each chime.

Cynthia holds up two pairs of shoes. “We’re still deciding between these, Daniel.”

He takes them from her, holding them up to his outfit and looking in the mirror.

“Turn to me,” Phil says from behind him. Dan turns and holds each shoe up. “The pair on the left.” 

Cynthia nods, taking the shoes from Dan and packing each away in their respective boxes. 

It doesn’t necessarily bother Dan that no one checks on this decision with him, but it always amazes him at how easily people follow orders that come from his fiancé. Of course no one would think to ask Dan about the shoes, because the prince has already made the decision. 

“Your turn now, your highness.”

Phil stands, helping Dan down from the podium. They walk behind the screen together, Phil waving off the women who follow them to help them undress. It’s extremely unbecoming, Dan thinks, and he knows they surely wouldn’t be getting undressed together if Keira was still in the room. He strips down to his pants and Phil hands off the expensive garments off to one of the women, returning with Dan’s casual outfit in his arms. He helps Dan dress (although he really doesn’t need to considering he’s only wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a simple button up) and lets Dan strip him of his own attire, Phil’s outfit much more formal as he had a number of meetings today. 

Once Phil is in his undershirt and pants, Dan emerges from behind the screen and nods to the woman holding Phil’s outfit. She joins Phil in the back of the room and disappears behind it to dress him.

-

“Yes, thank you, Cynthia. Margaret, Abigail, Nathalie, thank you all.” Phil stands at the open bedroom door, waving to each of the women as they leave. “We’ll see you all again in a few weeks, I’m sure.” 

Phil shuts the door behind them. He turns to Dan, letting out an exaggerated breath now that they’re alone. Dan laughs at this, opening his arms for Phil to run into. He does exactly this, extending his arms as well, then finally swooping Dan up and swinging him around before pulling him into a kiss. 

They hadn’t kissed since that morning, which they had established a while ago was entirely too long for them. Phil slips his tongue into Dan’s mouth, tipping his face up with two fingers under his chin.

He picks Dan up and carries him over to the bed, placing him down against the headboard gently. 

“We have all the rest of the evening now.” Phil breathes. He attaches his mouth to Dan’s neck, licking and sucking at the soft skin.

“Whatever for?” Dan muses, back arching slightly up into his fiancé’s touch. 

“So I can ravish you.”

“Ravish me?”

“Mm.” Phil unbuttons Dan’s shirt quickly, his mouth traveling down his chest to work around one nipple.

“I love when you talk princely to me.” Dan jokes. Phil grins up at him, pushing himself up to connect their lips again. His fingers replace where his mouth was, thumbing over Dan’s nipples.

His actions pull a high pitched moan from Dan, and his hips rise from the mattress to meet Phil’s.

The door swings open. “Prince Philip?”

They both groan.

“Christ, Keira, haven’t you learned to knock?”

The prince is in quite a… compromising position. Although he supposes being found kneeling between his future husband’s spread legs is hardly as scandalous as Dan’s red face makes it out to be.

“Sorry, sir,” She makes eye contact with Dan from his place on the bed. “Daniel.”

“Did you need something? Or have you come to watch?” Dan smacks his chest at that comment and, yeah, he probably deserved that.

She blushes deeply. “I have your mother on the phone.”

He sighs and buries his head in Dan’s neck. “Is it important?”

“It’s the queen!” Dan exclaims. He pushes Phil off by his shoulders. 

Keira clears her throat. “It is about which relatives will be coming to stay here with you two at Marston Court.” 

Phil sighs again, sitting back on his heels. Still between Dan’s legs, he looks down to his fiancé. His shirt is still open, faint marks from his teeth trailing across his chest. He licks his lips.

“Can’t it wait, like… twenty minutes?”

“Phil!” Dan is already rebuttoning his shirt.

“Right, right. Sorry…” He stands from the bed and adjusts his clothing and quiff. “Let’s go talk with mummy about Christmas.” He rolls his eyes, following Keira out the bedroom door.

He pops his head back in quickly before shutting the door. “Don’t you dare move.”

-

Phil returns only about a half hour later. He finds Dan laying in bed, scrolling on his phone. 

“I’ve just talked to Mum.”

“And?” Dan questions as Phil makes his way over to the bed. He kicks his shoes off and strips down to his pants, settling next to Dan against the headboard. 

“Martyn and Cornelia will be staying with us.”

“Oh, good,” Dan shifts to his side, propped up on his arm to face Phil. “I’ve missed the two of them.”

Phil turns to mirror his pose. “And…”

“And?”

He holds in a breath. “My Auntie Anya.”

“God.” Dan drops his head onto the pillow.

Lady Anya had been one of the first of Phil’s relatives to call for lunch with Dan after their engagement was announced. Moments after meeting her alone for the first time, it was clear to Dan that she was a desperate type. Not only that, but she had expressed how deeply saddened she was that her daughter was not the one to be taking the throne since Martyn gave it up. Of course, she had also been openly against gay marriage in Edania all the way until she had met Dan. She claimed that Phil would be unfit to be king because there was no way he and Dan could have a child.

“I know, I know.” Phil shifts to kneel over him. “But it’s just for a week. And there’s a few other families coming too, those are just the important ones.” 

“Why couldn’t she stay over at Ardingham Castle? With Mum and Dad?” Dan whines. 

“You know Mum would, like, murder her or something. Or have her head chopped off” 

“I guess you’re right.” He huffs.

“I’m sorry, dear.” He leans down to kiss Dan’s neck, in the soft spot just below his ear. “How could I ever make it up to you?” He mutters into his ear. He bites the lobe, tongue running over where the small silver hoop used to lay.

“I have several ideas…” Dan sighs. 

He runs his hands over Dan’s thighs. “Go on, then.”

Dan guides a hand to his tented boxers. “You could start there.” He mumbles, eyes screwed shut.

Phil works his hand over him softly, then dips his hand under Dan’s pants. He grabs hold of him, tugging his cock softly. Dan moans as he swipes his thumb over the tip, knees bending involuntarily. Phil places a hand on one knee, pushing his legs down so he can remove his pants.

“Beautiful.” He breathes, leaning down to press a kiss to Dan’s hip, just next to his tattoo. 

He leans over Dan to grab the lube from the bedside table. As he tells Dan to flip over and lean on his elbows, he vaguely remembers that he should lock the door. He’s not really supposed to leave it locked, so Keira and any other staff have access to him in case something happens, but he knows it bothers Dan when someone walks in on them. But it’s late, and they probably have nothing to worry about, so Phil presses a kiss to the small of Dan’s back and goes to lock the door.

He turns back into the bedroom and freezes, taking in the sight of his fiancé. Dan is on his elbows and knees, head laying down and facing Phil as he waits for him with his arse up. It just feels so _normal_ to Phil, not to say that sex with Dan has gotten boring, because anything involving Dan couldn’t ever be boring. But he knows that Dan is his person, the one he’s meant to admire while they’re both sitting in a bedroom naked with anticipation buzzing strongly in the air. 

Dan wiggles his bum enticingly, and most definitely jokingly, and raises his eyebrows at the man standing across the room from him. 

Phil shakes his head as he comes out of his trance, stalking over to kneel on the bed behind Dan. He rubs his hands over Dan’s cheeks, massaging them while Dan moans lowly. He slips a thumb between them, and Dan pushes back into him so he figures he should get on with it and start stretching him. There’s weddings and Christmas parties and important meetings on his mind, as always, but he pushes them aside momentarily. Just trying to enjoy how Dan feels around his fingers, the way he grinds back onto his hand, the loud moans that sound like music to Phil’s ears. 

Phil can’t help but take a second to admire him, one Dan mumbles that he’s ready. Just to sit back and rub Dan’s hips soothingly and stare at him.

Eventually, Dan grumbles, “Get on with it.” And Phil understands. They’re both quite tired from their busy days, and he’ll have plenty of other nights to stare at Dan in the low light of his bedroom. He pushes into Dan slowly, still massaging his hips and rubbing his back. 

He leans down to kiss the back of Dan’s neck, his hands moving further up Dan’s back.

“‘M fine. Go on.” Dan sighs. 

Phil bends down to rest his hands on the bed on either side of Dan’s shoulders as he starts fucking into him. One arm pushes under Dan to rest on his chest, fingers trailing aimlessly over his nipples and sternum. 

Dan moans as Phil adjusts his angle with the hand on his chest. “Yeah. Just like that.” His eyes are closed and he’s biting his lip, pushing back to meet Phil’s thrusts. Phil’s hand finds Dan’s cock, and he starts wanking him in time with his thrusts.

He closes his eyes and loses himself to the feeling of being inside Dan. Phil’s thighs starts to shake as he gets closer and closer to his climax. 

“Phil, Phil.” Dan mumbles. And Phil just strokes him faster, fucks him harder like he always seems to ask.

“Phil.”

“Oh.” Dan is trying to get his attention. “What?” 

“Are you gonna come in me?” 

Phil feels a swirling heat low in his stomach. “Can I?”

“Mmm, yeah,” Dan spreads his knees a little further and arches his back a little more. “Fill me up, baby.”

Phil groans and his hips stutter as he comes inside Dan, fucking him just a little longer to drag out his orgasm.

He keeps fisting over Dan’s cock until Dan bats his hand away and pushes Phil back. He pulls out of Dan and lets him push Phil onto the mattress and straddle his hips. Dan wanks himself as he stares at Phil, his other hand trailing over Phil’s neck and resting around it. He comes all over Phil’s chest with a cry. 

“Jesus.” Dan huffs. His chest is heaving a bit, and he slumps down next to Phil on the bed.

Phil pulls him into a kiss with a hand on the back of his head.

“Ew,” Dan mumbles on his lips. Phil pulls back, slightly offended. “Ew.” 

Phil looks down at him concerned. “Tell me how you really feel, Dan.”

“Not you, you prat. You came inside me.” He pushes Phil off of himself and starts to walk to the bathroom. 

Phil stares after him. Even waddling to the bathroom with slightly sweaty curls, Dan is just perfect. He enjoys the view until Dan steps into the ensuite and out of his eyesight, then grabs a tissue from the bedside table to wipe Dan’s cum off his chest. They’re going to be busy this week. He just wants to live in this moment now, since he knows he’ll be coming back to it for the next few days.

He gets up and unlocks the door before getting under the covers.

“I love you.” He states loud enough for Dan to hear it through the open door of the ensuite.

Dan peeks his head out the door and smiles. “Love you more.” 

-

“Good morning!” Rowan, one of the head maids, bursts into the bedroom with Keira at her side. 

Phil groans, pulling Dan tighter to his chest. He can faintly make out the sound of the curtains being thrown open, and a small breakfast trolley being wheeled into the bedroom and over to the table. 

“S’ too early.” Dan mumbles.

“Oh, come now, boys,” She makes her way over to the bed, not even a bit scandalized at finding them both in Dan’s bedroom, or the fact that they were both naked. “Your family are arriving today.”

Keira steps over. “You need to be at the door to greet guests. You only have an hour before the first begin to arrive, so I’d get ready and eat quickly if I were you.”

“I’ve brought some delicious omelettes along with the normal accompaniments. And Daniel’s favorite kind of tea.” Rowan gathers the clothes they’d strewn about the room the night before, throwing them into a trolley one of the other maids stood over. “The valets are already here to dress you.”

“Well, that’s good, because we’re naked.”

Rowan spares him a giggle, setting the food out on the table. Keira sits down on the sofa facing away from the men in order to let them get dressed.

Phil shakes Dan slightly as the valets stand on each side of the bed. He kisses his bare shoulder. “Wake up, dear.” 

Dan grunts, his watery eyes opening for the second time this morning to meet Phil’s. He grumbles something quietly, and shuffles out of the sheets to snatch the pants out of the valet’s hands and throw them on. 

“I’m taking a shower” He grumbles, shuffling over to the ensuite with a slight limp. 

Phil watches him for a second, before remembering that he probably smells too, and he might as well join Dan in the shower. There are two showers in the ensuite, so even if they do shower together, they can still pretend like the four people waiting for them in Dan’s bedroom think they’re showering separately. 

“I’m gonna-” He coughs, pointing to the door. He grabs his pants from the valet’s hands and rushes into the ensuite, where he sees Dan already under the stream. He joins him in the steam-filled shower, pulling Dan into his arms from behind.

“Hey, baby.” He mutters into Dan’s neck. Dan gasps, because he doesn’t always hear that word, and he especially doesn’t when there are people in the other room. 

Dan shudders as Phil’s lips move over his neck. “Well, good morning to you too, your majesty.” 

“I feel guilty,” Phil nips at his neck, pulling him closer to his chest. “Because I didn’t get to wake you up the way I wanted.”

“And how was that?”

Phil slips down to his knees in front of Dan and looks up at him. “Can I show you?”

He knows there’s something about that for Dan, to see the future king of a country on his knees for him. Dan likes when he’s pliant and waiting for instruction. When he knows Phil will do anything to push him over the edge. He blinks up at Dan innocently, arms crossed between his legs to make himself look smaller. 

Dan leans against the wall of the large shower and threads his fingers through Phil’s hair. “Please do.”

Phil works his hand over Dan for a bit, then replaces his hand with his lips. He licks up and down the side of him, then kisses the tip. Dan inhales sharply at this, fingers digging lightly into his scalp.

When Phil starts to suck lightly at the tip, Dan groans and his head rolls back against the shower wall.

“Quiet, baby.” Phil says, before taking Dan almost completely into his mouth.

Dan is biting his lip and his toes are curling as Phil bobs up and down on him. He breathes through his nose as he takes Dan deeper, letting Dan push him gently from the back of his head.

“God, yeah,” Dan mumbles quietly. “Keep doing that.”

They’ve probably already been in here for a suspicious amount of time, so Phil lets him thrust up into his throat as he runs his thumb over Dan’s hip tattoo. Dan grasps his hair roughly, pulling Phil down onto him as he finally comes down his throat.

Phi swallows and clears his throat. “Right. Five more minutes to wash yourself.”

-

After awkwardly emerging from their shower and allowing the valets to dress them, they enjoyed breakfast while Keira briefed them for their day.

“Alright, so, once the last guest arrives, we’ll have lunch ready in the west dining hall. Daniel, will you need that translator after all?

Phil places a hand on his knee, but he shakes his head. “No. I’ll be fine.”

“Great.” Keira hasn’t stopped staring at her tablet. “So we’ll have all seven families shown to their rooms, but you two should take the Knight’s to their room since they’re the highest ranking family after you.” 

Dan has to hold back an eye roll. That’s _Anya_ Knight, her snotty sexist husband, their oblivious daughter, and all three of their ankle-biting triplets.

“Awesome.”

Keira looks up at him through her glasses. “Keep him on his best behavior, please.”

Phil nods, and squeezes his knee, and she returns to the schedule on her tablet. “We’ll take the men on a hunt. Daniel, you’re staying here with the women and children and there’ll be tea in the east drawing room.”

Dan bristles at that comment. “So, Phil is going with the _men_ , and I’m staying with the women and children?”

She looks over her glasses again, completely unbothered. “Do you have a hunting license?”

“Well, no-”

“Have you ever hunted before?”

He bites his cheek. “No.” 

She pushes her glasses back up over the bump on her nose. “We need you to have tea in the drawing room with your guests, and play piano for them after. Christmas songs, preferably. Is that alright?”

Dan clears his throat. “Of course.”

She sets her tablet aside and leans forward, both forearms resting on her thighs. “Listen, Daniel. Nothing I’m saying here is meant to _emasculate_ you. But the royal family has always worked a certain way, and it’s not going to change, because it _works_. Like we have already discussed, and I _know_ you have discussed with the queen, by agreeing to become the prince’s husband, you are taking on the role of his husband, and by default, the role of his _wife_. It is not something we can leave empty. And yes, I know. It’s binary and it’s- heteronormative and slightly misogynistic and it’s all the things I know you and Phil are going to try to fix when he becomes king. But for now, can you just take what I can give you? _Please_?”

__Dan shifts uncomfortably in his seat. Phil squeezes the hand that’s still resting on his thigh, and turns to Keira._ _

__“He’ll be fine, Keira. What’s after the hunt?”_ _

__-_ _

__They walk to the main entryway, Dan’s arm linked around Phil’s, and share a short, final kiss before bracing themselves. Phil squeezes Dan’s hip with his spare hand._ _

__“I know we haven’t gotten a moment alone just to talk, but I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you.”_ _

__Dan smiles up at him. “Really?”_ _

__“Of course.” They both hear a car pull up, and Phil presses a kiss to Dan’s hair quickly. “We’ll talk more later, love. I’ll make sure we get a moment before dinner, alright?”_ _

__“Thank you.” He mumbles. He doesn't completely believe him, but he’ll hold out hope anyway. God knows he’ll need a moment with Phil after entertaining a room full of snobbish ladies and their screaming children for hours._ _

__The large entryway doors are opened then, swinging in to reveal a couple standing on the outside steps._ _

__“Prince Philip,” The butler gestures to the couple. “Princess Cornelia Dahlgren and Sir Martyn Lester.”_ _

__Martyn smiles as he strides into the castle, pulling Cornelia along beside him. He releases her hand when he reaches the prince, and both brothers forgo the customary bow and handshake for a firm hug._ _

__Dan smiles at the brothers, but is pulled away quickly by Cornelia, who tackles him in with an embrace. “Danny! I’ve missed you.”_ _

__He squeezes her back tightly. “I’ve missed you, too.” He laughs. Her and Martyn had been in Sweden for a while now. Phil had spoken about how he missed Martyn often. Ever since he abdicated the throne to marry Cornelia, Martyn had been in Sweden living with her family, and had only visited a few times. As busy as Phil was with wedding planning, country business, and just general damage control from their engagement, he hardly had spare time to call Martyn up to chat. Most of his free time went to Dan, anyway._ _

__“Well, show me the ring!”_ _

__Oh, that’s right. He hasn’t seen her since Phil proposed. He extends his left hand, which she snatches up quickly with her small hands. She gasps at the ring, holding his hand up to the light to get a look at the diamond. Her ring is a lot bigger, Dan knows, but his ring is quite beautiful in its own way. He likes showing it off. It’s a vintage ring, with a black diamond in the center of the thick band. There’s a braided design on the shank, which smaller black diamonds nested in. Phil had found it in a vintage shop in Berkshire when they were visiting Dan’s mum about a year ago. He liked that about it, it wasn’t some custom design by a famous jeweler. It was from Dan’s hometown, but it was classical like Phil. He couldn’t have found a better ring for himself if he looked._ _

__“Oh, it’s beautiful, Dan!” She tugs him by the hand over to Martyn. “Look, Marty! It’s so _Dan_.”_ _

__Martyn leans over her to examine the ring. “So it is.” He pats Phil’s back. “Good job, mate.”_ _

__“Martyn,” Dan smiles. He reaches out for a handshake, but Martyn pulls him into a tight hug instead._ _

__“I’ve missed you, mate.” Martyn hugs like his brother. Warm, inviting, and familiar. Dan can’t help but hug him back just as firmly. “I’m so glad you’re going to be part of the family. Officially, I mean.”_ _

__“Keep me grounded, Martyn,” He jokes. “Your Aunt Anya should be here soon.”_ _

__Martyn releases Dan from their hug, but keeps his arms gripped tightly on Dan’s shoulders. “Auntie Anya is staying here?” He turns to his brother. “Phil?”_ _

__Phil grimaces and scratches the back of his head. “Mum didn’t want to deal with her, so…” Martyn groans and throws himself in Cornelia’s arms. “You know how stressed she gets around the holidays!” Phil rationalizes. “She wore me down.”_ _

__“Ugh,” Martyn lifts his head from Cornelia’s chest to frown at his brother. “She’s always so pissy to me about the whole abdication thing.”_ _

__Phil shrugs. “It’s just one week.”_ _

__“At least you’re not the one who’s going to be king and is marrying a man,” Dan chimes in. He can’t help it. “Or the one who’s marrying the future king that can’t get pregnant.” The second part comes quieter._ _

__He hears Martyn sigh._ _

__Cornelia frowns and squeezes Dan’s hand. “We’ll be there right with you the whole week, love. No one’s going to say any of that to you, okay? It’s Christmas.”_ _

__She’s so comforting, Dan thinks. She’s going to make a wonderful Queen one day._ _

__He attempts a smile. “Thank you, Cornelia.”_ _

__The doors start to open again, and the group turns towards them. A member of staff comes forward to take Cornelia and Martyn to the gardens, where the family will wait until everybody arrives and lunch can begin._ _

__Dan braces himself for the next guests. It’s a Lester family from Phil’s dad’s side. They speak English, lucky for Dan, and he vaguely remembers meeting them at a ball or gala or something in the last two years. The staff return to walk them outside to Martyn and Cornelia_ _

__They continue like that, greeting each family as they arrive in scattered intervals. They mostly speak to Phil, chatting about how they missed him and it had been too long. That just yesterday he was a young boy and now… he’s engaged. They’d smile politely at Dan. He had tried to speak Italian to one of the families, but Phil heard his accent and took over immediately. They had only gotten one family that didn’t speak English, and Dan knows that Phil had requested that to make Dan comfortable. Everyone in this castle spoke multiple languages except him._ _

__Eventually, Dan hears the screeches of three young children outside of the door, and feels his eye twitch. There had been plenty of other children to come through, but none like this. The doors open and the butler announces the Knights. Phil squeezes his hand quickly, before dropping it and turning to the door._ _

__Anya Knight steps in elegantly, her husband and four children trailing behind her. Two of the triplets immediately run over to Phil, jumping onto his long legs and squeezing him tightly. The last one approaches Dan, and reaches up with his arms. Dan holds back a cringe, and looks up to Lord and Lady Knight. Their pale, blonde daughter stands far behind with her arms crossed._ _

__“Oh, he missed you, Daniel. Won’t you pick him up?” Lady Anya smiles up at him._ _

__One of the biggest controversies that was dug up when his engagement to Phil was announced was old (deleted) tweets about his disdain for children. He just didn’t feel like he would ever know how to act around them. Of course, since the traditional way of producing an heir was already a problem about Dan and Phil’s marriage, the media quickly started using these as evidence that Dan was some sort of child hater who intended to end the royal family line. Like he didn’t understand all the fucking crazy stipulations that he had to agree to that were made for _his_ marriage-_ _

__“Dan.” The tiny voice babbles. His arms are still in the air._ _

__He picks the kid up. He is a cute kid. Dan almost actually smiles when the small boy throws his arms around Dan’s neck and cuddles into his chest._ _

__But then the kid is grabbing onto his perfectly styled curls and tugging and he’s wincing and calling for Phil to help him._ _

__Phil shuffles over as quick as he can with two children latched onto him, and pulls the small child from him. He sets him down and turns to Lady Anya._ _

__“You’ll have to get used to that, hm? I bet you’ll have plenty of little ones to chase around soon after the wedding.” She smiles that bitter smile, looking Dan up and down completely blatantly. “Right, Dan?”_ _

__Dan simply smiles back and turns to Phil._ _

__And Phil is just so goddamn perfect in every way, that he somehow swings the conversation to Lord Knight, getting him excited for the hunt later. They shake hands, and Dan shakes hands with him as well. Phil nods to Willow, the daughter, and she gives him a small smile. She must be shy, Dan thinks, she hasn’t said a word. The staff approaches when Dan stares long enough at them to escort the family outside with the others._ _

__It’s going to be a long week, Dan can already tell._ _

__-_ _

__Lunch goes fairly smoothly, as Dan had already arranged for the Knights to be on the other side of the table from him and Phil. He has polite conversation with one of Phil’s cousins and is able to squeeze his hand under the table when he gets nervous._ _

__Phil sneaks a kiss to his cheek before they leave for the hunt. It makes him feel warm, and less upset about the fact that all the men are leaving to kill- fucking, ducks? Whatever, he thinks, as Cornelia has just grabbed his hand and started leading him up to the east drawing room where the ladies and children already are._ _

__The maids bring tea, and Dan seats himself at the piano before anyone can start asking him about children or weddings or kings or something._ _

__This is almost as good as escaping with Phil. He can just _feel_ the music. People, of course, start singing the Christmas songs along with his playing. _ _

__Cornelia comes up behind him, resting her arms on Dan’s shoulders as he plays. She sings along softly, and it’s beautiful._ _

__The song ends and he starts to play some improvised melody while he thinks of another Christmas song._ _

__“You’re doing wonderfully,” Cornelia assures him. “With the piano and with the family.”_ _

__He looks up at her as she sits next to him on the bench. “Thank you.” He mutters._ _

__“I know it's not easy.” She’s speaking just loudly enough for him to hear. “I was the one that took the future king away from his kingdom. I know it's not the same but, I know how you’re feeling.”_ _

__He smiles gently. “I’m glad you’re here.”_ _

__He knows this week is going to be hard. There’s all sorts of different factors that are going to add onto it. But he has Phil, and Martyn and Cornelia, all on his side. Dan thinks, as Cornelia rests her head on his shoulder, that this Christmas may not turn out to be as horrific as he first thought._ _

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi on tumblr [@sadlybunny](https://www.sadlybunny.tumblr.com)  
> -bunny x


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